Although female lawbreakers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were rarely considered dangerous criminals, there are many records of women participating in non-violent crimes including shoplifting, prostitution, and fraud. This work studies frauds and swindles perpetrated by women during that era, and offers character studies of several key female swindlers including Ann O’Delia Diss Debar, Mabel Parker, and Sarah Casselman, among others. Frauds covered include spiritually-based crimes (i.e. deceptive séances, “spirit writing”) and love crimes (i.e. matrimonial racketeering), as well as “sob story” panhandling, counterfeiting, faking wealth, and pension fraud.

Cultural historian Kerry Segrave is the author of dozens of books on such diverse topics as drive-in theaters, ticket-scalping, lie detectors, jukeboxes, smoking and shoplifting. He lives in British Columbia.

Kerry Segrave
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 244
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2007
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3039-0
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8164-4
Imprint: McFarland

Preface      1

1. Spiritualism      7

2. Spiritualism—Ann O’Delia Diss Debar      20

3. Love and Marriage      35

4. Sob Stories      45

5. Passing Bad Paper      76

6. Passing Bad Paper—Mabel Parker      110

7. Commercial Interests      115

8. Commercial Interests—Marion La Touche      128

9. Faking Wealth      136

10. Faking Wealth—Sarah Casselman      151

11. Faking Wealth—Bertha Heyman      157

12. Faking Wealth—Cassie Chadwick      163

13. Pension Fraud and Imposters      176

14. Various Frauds      186

15. Various Frauds—Ellen Peck      210

Chapter Notes      219

Bibliography      227

Index      235